


Treat you better

by redangeleve



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Adultery, Affairs, Age Difference, F/M, Feelings, Hermione Granger Needs a Hug, Older Man/Younger Woman, Potions, Scheming, Unplanned Pregnancy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-18
Updated: 2020-12-18
Packaged: 2021-03-11 01:26:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,728
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28156791
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/redangeleve/pseuds/redangeleve
Summary: "You could tell your husband the truth," he suggested.Hermione laughed humorlessly. "Of course. I'm sure Ron would think it's wonderful if I confessed to him that I had been impregnated by my lover.""I'd prefer it if you were a little less vulgar about it," Lucius returned pointedly. "But I didn't mean it that way either.""How then? What else did you mean? That I could get divorced and marry you instead?" Hermione snapped, growing increasingly hysterical at the mere thought of their messed up situation. "Was that what you were going to suggest? If so, you have a strange view of reality."
Relationships: Hermione Granger & Lucius Malfoy, Hermione Granger/Lucius Malfoy
Comments: 18
Kudos: 79





	Treat you better

"Do you have it?"

Despite the darkness that reigned in the small passageway in Knockturn Alley, Hermione's eyes seemed almost to glow as they bored into the gray irises of her counterpart.

"No kiss this time?" he asked in a teasing tone. "Not even a 'hello'?"

Annoyed, Hermione rolled her eyes. She was stressed, had just managed to steal away from the Ministry on her lunch break, but she had to be back in less than half an hour already. "Please Lucius, no games," she brought out. "If anyone sees us ..."

"No one will see us," the Malfoy patriarch countered with conviction. "I have cast the strongest illusion charm available over this passageway. So?" He raised a pale eyebrow questioningly before she finally relented. With a sigh, she closed the distance to him and stood on her toes to peck a kiss on his lips, but Lucius was faster than her. Before she knew it, he had his arms wrapped around her waist and pressed her close as he kissed her in a way that made her head spinning. 

Her protests could only be heard indistinctly through the kiss and finally faded away completely as she surrendered to him and allowed him to greet her as he usually did. In fact, she was more than a little out of breath when she finally managed to free herself from his embrace. Quickly she arranged her clothes and brushed back her hair so as not to leave any telltale traces. After all, no one in the ministry was supposed to suspect anything. Nevertheless, she could not prevent her cheeks from being covered with a telltale red glow as she looked up at him. "So," she asked again firmly, "do you have it?"

"Of course," he returned noncharlant, pulling an inconspicuous vial of a reddish liquid from a pocket of his robe and showing it to her.

"Give it to me, then." Invitingly, Hermione held her hand out to him, but Lucius made no move to hand the vial over.

"It doesn't have to be this way," he said instead. "We could find another way."

"Oh yeah, and what kind of way?" she asked as she nervously ran her fingers through her hair. Crap, now she had ruined her hair after all. She really needed to make a quick trip to a washroom before taking the elevator down to her office. With her luck, she'd run right into Ron, who worked at the Auror Central, on the way. 

"You could tell your husband the truth," he suggested.

Hermione laughed humorlessly. "Of course. I'm sure Ron would think it's wonderful if I confessed to him that I had been impregnated by my lover."

"I'd prefer it if you were a little less vulgar about it," Lucius returned pointedly. "But I didn't mean it that way either."

"How then? What else did you mean? That I could get divorced and marry you instead?" Hermione snapped, growing increasingly hysterical at the mere thought of their messed up situation. "Was that what you were going to suggest? If so, you have a strange view of reality." 

Merlin, it should never have come to this. For months they had been meeting secretly in a Muggle hotel and having passionate sex, but although Hermione had thought they had been careful, she had discovered a week ago that she was pregnant. A disaster from which it was imperative to find a way out. True, Lucius had been divorced for years, but Hermione was still married to Ron, and as boring as their marriage had become, she still didn't want to leave him. So she couldn't possibly bring a child into the world who, with his light blond hair, looked so very different from his red-haired siblings. 

"Would that really be so absurd?" countered Lucius. "That I would want to raise our child with you?" 

Yes, if she was honest, it was just that. Absurd. Just the thought of moving in with Lucius and playing happy family was something Hermione had never considered. It should have been an affair. A wonderful distraction from everyday married life, nothing more. But now this flirtation had brought unexpected consequences.

'Focus, Hermione,' she called herself to order. Reproaches were getting her nowhere here. Exhausted by her sudden outburst, Hermione brushed her hair out of her face. "In another world, maybe that would be the solution and we would live happily ever after, but not here," she said before tracing the ornaments on his vest with her index finger. "This isn't a fairy tale, Lucius, it's reality and you're not a prince, you're a former Death Eater and I'm not a fair maiden either, I'm the assistant to the Minister of Magic. That would never work."

But Lucius seemed deaf to her arguments. "Who said that?" he huffed. "We could leave. Go away from here. Somewhere where no one knows who we are."

Confused by his suggestion, Hermione frowned. "Just run away like that? And what about my other children? Do you think I would leave them here? No, I can't. Even though I know Molly would support Ron and take care of them."

"You could take them with you," he suggested.

"And you would raise them, the children of a Weasley?" In disbelief, Hermione snorted. "You might say that now, but believe me, you would only ever see their father in them."

Now it was Lucius' turn to speak up. "Instead you want me to what?" he asked harshly, "Watch him raise my child?"

"Yes, just that," Hermione countered, no less agitated. "And no one will ever know it's your child, the potion will take care of that." According to what he'd told her when she'd panicked and floo-called him, the potion would alter her unborn child's genes so that his hair would turn red and his eyes blue. Everything else couldn't be affected, but maybe Hermione was lucky and her child hadn't inherited his biological father's aristocratic features or high forehead.

"But I will always know," he held out to her bitterly.

Exasperated, Hermione threw her hands in the air. "So what? Would you rather I have it removed? By one of those witches in the back room of that alley?"

No sooner had she spoken than Lucius grabbed her by the shoulders and held her so tightly that the woman made a protesting sound. "Don't you dare even think about it."

"Then you'll have to live with it. I also have to, after all," she returned softly.

Without letting go of her, the blond wizard closed his eyes as if he needed to collect himself, then swallowed audibly before opening his eyes again and looking pleadingly at the woman before him. "May I ... can I feel it at least once?"

Now it was Hermione's turn to swallow. Her throat seemed suddenly constricted so that she couldn't make a sound, then she finally nodded. Her hands visibly shook as she unbuttoned her coat and pushed the dark blue knit sweater up, exposing her flat stomach. It was too early to see or even feel anything, yet there was something oddly intimate about Lucius taking a hand from her shoulder and placing it on her navel. It was autumn and his fingers were cool, so slight goosebumps covered her stomach at the touch. True, they had done a lot more than just touch, but it had never happened in a place as public as this. 

Even if they were truly hidden by an illusion charm, Hermione, for her part, could very well see the witches and wizards hurrying by. Nevertheless, she let him have his way. She owed him that much. She knew she was asking a lot of him, but she had no choice. Hermione had a lot more to lose than he did. Her family, her job, her home. Still, she was counting on Lucius to keep their bargain. Because she meant something to him, she thought she could read that much in his eyes at that moment, and it wasn't just the fact that she carried his child under her heart. 

Hermione had no idea what it was that he saw in her eyes, but finally he nodded jerkily before pulling his hand back and taking a step away from her. "You should go," he said harshly, then pressed the vial into her hand. "Before they miss you ."

"I suppose I should," she replied, her voice sounding foreign to her own ears. Almost mechanically, she began to arrange her clothes one more time, then pulled out her wand and turned away from him, only to turn back again a moment later. "See you Friday, usual time, usual place?"

It wasn't often that Lucius let it show when someone surprised him, but at that moment he couldn't help his eyes from widening. Apparently he hadn't expected Hermione to keep up their affair after all that had happened, but the witch returned his perplexed look without batting an eye. Well, even though it wouldn't be easy for him to watch her belly getting rounder and rounder, knowing that Weasley thought it was his child she was carrying, he would still take the chance to continue being close to her. 

After all, there was still the possibility of changing Hermione's mind and winning her over after all. And if she still intended to hold on to her marriage, there were still other ways. Although the potion gave good visual results, it would not stand up to a magical paternity test. Weasley didn't know about the child yet, but if Hermione told him, all he had to do was make the redhead doubt that it was really his child. However, he had to be discreet. Under no circumstances could Hermione find out that Lucius had a hand in it, otherwise he would risk to loose her in the end. 

The smile that twitched the corners of Lucius' mouth was genuine, even if Hermione would never guess what was behind it when he confirmed, "Of course. Friday. Usual time, usual place."

As far as scheming went, no one could hold a candle to him anytime soon. Lucius had practice at that, and he swore by Salazar Slytherin's grave that he wouldn't admit defeat so easily. Hermione and the child belonged to him and he would do everything in his power to make her realize that.


End file.
